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Courses

Biography

Rebbecca Brown received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her major field of study is Literary Theory, with secondary concentrations in 20th Century American Literature, Creative Writing Pedagogy, and the British Renaissance. In the Spring of 2013, she was awarded a Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Lecturer grant and taught a course in American Literature at Kannur University in Kerala, India. She also holds a B.A. and M.A. in Creative Writing from California State University, Northridge.

Her dissertation, an experimental novel entitled They Become Her, received Honorable Mention in the 2009-2010 Starcherone Innovative Fiction Contest and was published in 2014 by What Books Press. In the past, she received an Honorable Mention from the Academy of American Poets, the Timothy Adams award for creative writing, the Rachel Sherwood Prize for Poetry and First Place in the LACC Writing Contest for Creative Nonfiction. Her work has appeared in print and online journals such as American Literary Review, Confrontation, Requited, H_ngm_n, 88: A Journal of Contemporary American Poetry and Ekleksographia (among others).

Teaching Philosophy

I cannot remember a time when I was not compelled by an intense engagement with the curiosities and complexities of writing, literature, and language. It is with this passion, now framed and informed by the spirit of critical inquiry, that I seek to encourage my students to be more conscientious, engaged thinkers. Part of a successful classroom experience entails encouraging every student to take part in the conversation—it is imperative that each student’s voice is heard and that they are motivated to express their ideas thoughtfully. I attempt to instill confidence within my students by fostering a comfortable, welcoming, critically rigorous classroom where we generate ideas together as a community of learners. Each of my classroom experiences has helped hone my pedagogical practices, although I remain convinced that I will always have something to learn and believe it dangerous to assume mastery.

I also believe that a heightened awareness and engagement with language can empower students in profound and fundamental ways. If students are faced with the suggestion that language is ideological and underpins our thinking, then sensitivity towards their own linguistic processes might cause them to be more conscientious thinkers. This heightened consciousness may in turn foster empathy and awareness. I also understand that some students are often reluctant to express themselves either verbally or through the written word. It is one of my primary goals as a professor to counter this disinclination by creating a challenging and engaging classroom environment where students feel comfortable enough to explore their ideas and develop their critical writing and thinking skills. Through assignments and readings that require an intensified personal investment with literature and language, I will continue to challenge and encourage my students to locate their place within a multitude of possible linguistic practices in order to further their intellectual growth.